A Proposal In Nepal

It’s never a bad time to start planning your next holiday adventure! Whether you’re an occasional traveller with a case of the wanderlust, or a seasoned jet-setter ready for your next adventure, we all love browsing travel blogs for location inspiration and travel photography tips.

We had a chat with Louis and Sarah, the snap-happy couple behind one of our favourite travel blogs, Salt and Coconuts. They told us more about their love of exploring the world, shared plenty of great travel photography tips, and their story of a very special trip to Nepal.

Using Travel Blogs To Share Your Passion

Louis and Sarah are a teacher and a nurse from Wimbledon. Over their past four years together, they’ve travelled all over the world and always found the time to take lots of beautiful pictures along the way.

“When we began travelling, the main intention was just to go and enjoy ourselves,” explains Louis. But the couples’ travel photography inspired a strong Instagram following, and a stream of requests for travel advice from friends and strangers alike. Salt and Coconuts was born, and the travel and photography blog currently reaches over 1000 subscribers from over 111 countries around the world.

“We get lots of nice comments from people about the blog. It feels great when someone has taken on board our advice about things such as hotels, restaurants or excursions then enjoyed their holiday as much as we did.”

The couple’s love of travel is clear, and it shines through in every post they share. Their photography has a joyfulness to it, perfect for inspiring others to pack up a suitcase.

“The thing I love most about travelling is being able to meet local people and feel inspired by their different ways of life… when you meet people who don’t want anything other than their health and the love of family, friendship and good food, it really makes you reassess what you have back home.”

“Meeting new people has also been very inspiring whilst being away; we’ve made loads of friends throughout our travels. This is either other travellers we’ve met, guides on trips, drivers and much more! We keep in contact with most of them afterwards and it’s always nice to see how their adventures continue to unfold.”

Travel Photography Tips

When it comes to travel photography tips, Louis and Sarah have plenty to share. A big one is to be always on the lookout for vibrancy. “Our inspiration for the photos we take comes from colour. We always try to make our photos as colourful as possible.”

They also recommend keeping the camera ready, to capture those moments that feel very different to life back home.

“We’re often inspired by those little moments you have that are different from everyday life back home. I recently took a photo of a boy fishing in Pokhara, Nepal and I just love everything about it. It really captures the peaceful nature of Pokhara and the beauty of the surroundings. It’s moments like that I love to capture whilst away.”

As for travel photography tips for beginners, Louis recommends lots of patience and commitment to your craft.

“I think sometimes people almost expect to take one picture and that be enough. The reality of taking a half decent picture is that the chances are, the picture was taken numerous times before the right shot was achieved.”

Don’t be afraid of photo editing either, but be sure to use a good program. The way you choose to edit your photographs can be an opportunity to show your own creativity and unique style. “Learning how to use both Lightroom and Photoshop has been really exciting,” Louis explains, “Ditch the phone filters and start learning how to make your own presets in Lightroom. This way, you can really play around with the kinds of colours that you like and start to build a repertoire of your own.”

Browse through the Salt and Coconuts blog, and you’ll quickly see that the couple don’t shy away from capturing photographs of themselves together either. It’s a great way to make your travel photography feel more personal, and capture the feeling of exploring your favourite places with your favourite person. But when you’re not travelling with friends, capturing these shots can be tricky.

“There’s two ways of achieving those shots,” explains Louis, “either setting up a tripod using a remote control for your camera, or asking someone else to take the picture for you. Setting up a tripod is not always feasible in some areas. Also setting up a tripod and taking a picture of yourself down a busy high street in Bangkok can be quite embarrassing! So you ask someone for help.”

Unfortunately, this method can be a little hit-and-miss. As passionate photographers, Sarah and Louis both have an eye for nicely framing their shots. But the moment you pass your camera on to someone else, you also hand over creative control.

“There have been so many times where we’ve thought ‘ahhh this will be a great shot’ and passed the camera over to someone to help. But by the time they give the camera back, ether their finger was covering the lens, half of our bodies are out of the frame or it’s so out of focus that you can barely make out who’s in the picture.”

But sometimes it’s worth it in the end, as evidenced by this shot taken by a trekking guide in Nepal.

“I wouldn’t be able to say just how many shots it took for him to get the picture right. Luckily, it turned out to be our favourite picture of the holiday.”

Travel Inspiration From Nepal

It’s fortunate that Louis and Sarah were prepared to capture so many great photographs while on their recent trip to Nepal, as Louis had planned for it to be an unforgettable holiday.

“I knew when I proposed, that it needed to be whilst on an adventure.” He explains, “. So I started to research potential countries for our next trip and somewhere that could perhaps capture all of the things that we loved so much about Southeast Asia, plus more. It wasn’t long before we stumbled upon Nepal and I immediately knew that this was the place! There’s so many different experiences that you can have in Nepal, whether it be: Jungle treks; Jeep Safaris; trekking through the mountains; Paragliding; Water Rafting or Bungee jumping. It truly is a place filled with adventure!”

“Before we even started booking the flights I began organizing the proposal. I arranged a boat safari, bathing with elephants, a jeep safari and a private bush dinner. The trip was unbelievable and the day turned our perfectly. Luckily our waiters were on hand, ready to take photos of it all.”

With so many great stories and stunning photos, it’s no wonder Louis and Sarah returned home excited to share their adventure with their friends, family and followers.

“This was one of our favourite trips so far, notably because we got engaged but also because of the beautiful landscapes of the country, the great food and lovely people.”

Keep your eyes peeled for the second half of our interview with Louis and Sarah, where we’ll show you the CEWE PHOTOBOOK they made to commemorate their adventure. They’ll also be sharing their travel photo book design tips and advice, to inspire you to create a photo book of your own.